Nick Seward came from behind heads-up to beat Daniel Negreanu and win the $26,000 Event #9 at the 2026 Poker Masters on Oct 22 for $412,500, his first PGT title. Negreanu then skipped the $51,000 finale, Adrian Mateos went out of it on Day 1, and Jeremy Ausmus is the only player left who can take the Purple Jacket from him today.
Some tournament players bet everything but one chip so they're never quite all in. We look at why they do it, run the numbers by script on when the leftover chip is worth keeping, and set out what the 2026 TDA and WSOP rules say about it.
Keith Lehr, 62, came from almost 2-to-1 behind heads-up to win the $15,700 Event #8 at the 2026 Poker Masters on Oct 21 for $277,200. On the final hand, Vitalijs Zavorotnijs turned the nut straight and the river paired the board to give Lehr a full house. Adrian Mateos still leads the Purple Jacket race with two events left.
Jeremy Ausmus beat Aram Oganyan heads-up to win the $15,700 Event #7 at the 2026 Poker Masters on Oct 20, earning $278,400 and his 10th PokerGO Tour title. Adrian Mateos finished fourth and stretched his lead in the Purple Jacket race with three events left.
A post warning players not to sit with anyone in smart glasses passed 600,000 views on X, and Alec Torelli called for banning all glasses at the table. The clip itself shows chess, not poker. The 2026 TDA rules already ban smart glasses at the table unless the tournament director allows them.
Justin Vaysman was down to 20,000 chips, one-quarter of a big blind, with five players left in the $10,500 Event #6 at the 2026 Poker Masters. He won three all-ins in a row, came from well behind heads-up against Sean Winter, and took his first PGT title on Oct 19.
On the money bubble of Poker Masters Event #4, chip leader Clemen Deng checked down a hand against Joey Weissman, who had kept 10,000 chips back, instead of betting him all in. John Krpan told Deng he had disrespected the game, Nick Palma said it was modern strategy, and the clip has nearly 400,000 views on X.
Where our state claims for CoinPoker and Phenom Poker come from, what CoinPoker's terms say, and how to check a site's terms yourself.
Adrian Mateos topped 85 entries in the $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event #5 at the 2026 Poker Masters on Oct 17, beating Nick Schulman heads-up in two hands with pocket aces. He had bubbled three of the first four events, and he bubbled Event #6 later the same night.
Oklahoma's SB 1589 has an effective date of Nov 1, 2026. Press calls it a sweepstakes ban, and the bill itself targets dual-currency online casino games. Here is what the text says, what four sweepstakes casino brands have announced, what one poker site's rules say, and what we don't know.
Quick checks
CoinPoker's Terms and Conditions are now a June 2026 PDF: clause 3.1(m) still lists the United States as a restricted territory, and clause 1.1 names Precise Interactive Inc. of Panama as the operator. Its rake caps now sit on its Hold'em and PLO pages, which say fees are postflop-only unless a 3-bet happens preflop.
Source: CoinPoker Terms and Conditions (PDF, June 2026) (opens in a new tab), CoinPoker Hold'em page (opens in a new tab), CoinPoker PLO page (opens in a new tab)
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Section 2 of the enrolled bill sets the effective date. The bill covers online casino games that use a dual-currency system.
Source: Oklahoma Legislature: SB 1589 (opens in a new tab)
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We tested the calculator's answers against exact counts of every possible deal.
Source: Our equity calculator
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Hand of the week
Hypothetical matchup, not a hand anyone played
Before the flop, Hand A has 46.2%. After the flop K♥︎ 7♣︎ 2♦︎ it has 91.2%. After the turn Q♣︎ it has 0.0%: Hand B has a set of queens, and a king on the river would give Hand B a full house.
Preflop
No board yetFlop
Turn
Exact equity, counted over every possible remaining card with our calculator. Ties count as half.
Strategy
Every claim is a number you can rerun in the calculator.
Where to play
State by state, which sites take players, the catch at each one, and the date we checked. Rules differ by state and change, so we date everything.
| Site or tool | What we checked | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Clubs Poker | State list, from its own sweepstakes rules (13 states excluded) | |
| CoinPoker | Terms (June 2026 PDF): they list the US as restricted | |
| Phenom Poker | Terms: no US state list published | |
| Equity calculator | Results against exact counts |
| Site | Lowest-stakes rake | Cap there |
|---|---|---|
| Clubs Poker | 5% | SC 0.75 at SC 0.01/0.02 (5+ players) |
| CoinPoker | Not stated* | $0.20 at $0.01/$0.02 (5+ players) |
| Phenom Poker | 5% | 0.20† at 0.01/0.02 (4+ players) |
*CoinPoker's Hold'em and PLO pages list rake caps only. They don't state a rake percentage.
†Currency not named. Phenom's rake table names no currency. Its blog says play moved to CHIP, an in-game currency it says is backed 1-to-1 by the US dollar, on Aug 24, 2026; its help center still says USDT.
From each site’s own published rake figures, checked Oct 19, 2026. Sites can change rake at any time. Full tables, sources and page dates for rake →
Every Thursday
What changed at the sites we cover and in state law, with a source for every item. If nothing changed, we say so in one line. Promos only when we've read the terms and they hold up.
Preview: a Thursday issue